


Nightmare

by merildis



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Drabble, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Nightmares, well vague kind-of-angst anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-19
Updated: 2015-07-19
Packaged: 2018-04-10 04:59:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4378055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merildis/pseuds/merildis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jade has always had trouble sleeping, but some nights are worse than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> What do you mean no one asked for 1.2k words of plotless fluff?  
> This has been sitting around in my documents for a while but I never entirely intended to post it. It kinda felt pointless and self-indulgent to write, but this tag is so dead that I figured something is better than nothing at all!

_"Jade," a gentle voice said through the snow. "Jade," she called again, louder this time._

_"Professor?" His voice felt far away, like he was hearing an echo of himself. He whirled around to look for her, but saw nothing but the violent flurries of snow that turned the world white as bone. "Professor!" His voice rose again in boyish fear and the wind whipped at his hair._

_"Jade." She was behind him suddenly and he turned to face her. She gazed at him fondly, short white hair and warm red eyes exactly as he remembered. She reached out to him, but the snow was gone suddenly, replaced by flame that swallowed her before he could reach._

_He flinched away from the heat, stumbling back before he fell to his knees. "Nebilim," her name fell from his lips as he stared up at her, no longer kind; she looked to him now more like a vengeful god._

_"Do you see this?" She snarled as the fire raged. "Do you see what you've done to me?" The flames grew higher and he shrank back, a frightened child once more. "And you would dare ask my forgiveness?!" She glared down at him and he was sure he saw her teeth extending like fangs as she spit every word. "You'll never get it, Jade. You don't deserve it."_

Jade woke with a start, heart pounding like a drum in his chest, sweat sticking his hair to his forehead. The roar of flames was gone now, replaced only with the soft fall of water from outside the window that stretched across the far wall; the harsh red light replaced with the silvery moonlight that washed the room. He forced himself to breathe evenly and pulled himself upright, trying not to wake the one sleeping beside him. He pushed his sweat-slick hair back from his face and heaved a sigh that ached all the way to his bones. He'd always had nightmares like this, but it didn't make them any less unsettling. They'd been more common in the last few weeks, however; he suspected it was a product of his trip to Keterburg that had reopened more wounds than he cared to admit.

He shivered in the cold air as his sweat cool on his skin and reached for the blanket only to find Peony cocooned in it beside him. Jade wasn't sure if he'd thrown it off in the night or if Peony had simply taken it all in his sleep, but he was nearly swallowed by the down duvet now, blonde hair spilling over the pillow and hiding his sleeping face. Deciding he wouldn't be getting the blanket any time soon, and knowing there was little chance at sleep now, Jade carefully swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached for his glasses on the nightstand.

Peony stirred behind him. "Jade?" His voice was half muffled by the pillow and heavy with sleep as he reached for Jade blindly in the dark.

Jade turned back toward him slightly, reaching out to grasp his searching fingers. "Go back to sleep." He spoke quietly, but with enough authority that he hoped Peony’s sleep-addled brain would accept his request and slip back into whatever dream he’d been having,

Peony, however, would have none of that. He was awake now and determined to know why, raising his head from the pillow and pulling back his arm to rub at his eyes. "Why are you up?" He asked, blinking.

Jade shook his head. "It's not important," he said, hoping beyond hope that perhaps Peony would accept his answer and go back to sleep without a fuss, but knowing it would never happen.

He was right, of course; Peony was already sitting up, his face lined with worry. "Dreams again?" He reached out to brush a few stray strands of hair from Jade's face, fingertips lingering on his jaw a moment too long. 

Jade looked away, unable to handle the gentleness of that blue gaze, his eyes instead falling on his glasses where they still perched on the edge of the nightstand. "I told you, it's not important. You should go back to sleep." Despite his attempts at calm, his heart was still beating wildly in his chest and he could still hear the dull roar of the fire in his ears. It left him uniquely stranded, halfway between the real world and the one his mind had conjured; not quite here nor there, thoughts ebbing and flowing until the world seemed to spin around him. It was not the first time, however; his outward calm settled easily and naturally despite his somewhat tenuous grasp on reality.

Apparently, his facade wasn't enough to deter Peony, who scooted over and tugged on Jade's arm to pull him closer. "Come here," he said. Jade resisted for half a second, and then turned back toward him, pulling himself back into the bed letting Peony hold him close and wrap his arms around him. Peony rested his head against Jade's shoulder, burying himself in the crook of his neck where he could feel his pulse pounding beneath his skin. "I love you," he muttered against Jade's sweat-damp skin, "I'm right here."

Jade wrapped his arms around Peony in return almost on reflex, hands still shaking even as one tangled into Peony's hair. He forced himself to breathe deep, to focus on the smell of spice and sandalwood and ocean air and forget the smoke and flame that still raged in his mind; forced himself to remember that he was here, wrapped in silk sheets with his emperor strewn across his lap and not in the middle of the snowy field all those miles away in Keterburg. Finally, his heartbeat slowed until it no longer pounded in his ears and the quiet of the room settled comfortably around them.

Peony pressed his lips to his pulse point now, and then began peppering tiny kisses up his neck until he got to his lips, pressing one last little kiss there before pulling away. "Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked softly, eyes gentle.

Jade pursed his lips. "Not particularly," he stated as matter-of-fact as ever.

"Alright," said Peony. "We won't then." He reached over and yanked the duvet back toward them, throwing it over him and Jade both. "Do you want to go back to sleep?"

Jade started to shake his head. "I don't think I-"

Peony didn’t let him finish. "Come on," he murmured. "At least stay until I fall asleep," he settled back down into the bed, pulling the blanket up and tugging Jade down with him. "You can leave then, if you'd like."

Jade looked at him for a moment, and then sighed. "Fine," he said, laying back down and letting Peony drape himself over him, limbs tangling and hair falling like a halo of gold across the pillow.

Peony sighed contentedly when he decided they were sufficiently entangled, blue eyes falling closed. "Love you," he muttered sleepily into Jade's neck, breath warm against the chilled skin.

Jade breathed deep, eyes suddenly heavy. "Goodnight, Peony," he whispered back; solid as a promise, reverent as a prayer. Barely ten minutes passed before Jade found himself slipping into a dreamless sleep that lasted until morning.  


End file.
